


The Beast You've Made Of Me

by DreamingState



Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: F/F, F/M, Gen, M/M, Trespasser Spoilers, continuation arc, hopefully heart wrenching, many forms of love, not a fix-it fic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-03-09
Updated: 2016-03-08
Packaged: 2018-05-25 14:56:26
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,422
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6199441
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DreamingState/pseuds/DreamingState
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Inquisition refused to bow to the Exalted Council, but now they must face a new threat. With new faces and old, the Inquisitor steps forward on a path to hopefully save all of Thedas, or die trying.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prelude

**Author's Note:**

> I know that I have Sanctuary still up, but this is a completely new venture. Watching Bioware begin to sink as they keep losing head writers, and knowing that they will probably toss the Inquisitor into the Void as they have with the Warden and Hawke, I decided to write my own canon. I felt that Inquisition was more like the beginning to a story, not a story itself. In fact it reminded me of Mass Effect 1. Shepard had hurdled all these obstacles, seemingly saved the citadel, only to find that there was a bigger threat that could destroy the whole galaxy. Yet who wanted to hear about that?
> 
> As with Shepard, I'm completely in love with my Inquisitor, and I feel like she deserves her own story.
> 
> There will be lots of ocs in this fic. There are lots of new roles to play in the story, much like how it would be in a new game, but there will be many old faces too. Hopefully I get it all right! 
> 
> I will start every chapter with a song, and post it in the notes.   
> This chapter's song is Prelude 12/21 by AFI  
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZfeyRj4ePT8

_**Andaran atish’an, my people**. I send this message to all of the elves of Thedas, from the most sequestered clan of Dalish to the enslaved in Tevinter. I know that a man has recently made his appearance, one that promises a return to the days of Elvhenan where ours was a glorious race to be feared. I must regretfully inform you that his promises are empty ones. Before he revealed himself as Fen’Harel, he was a trusted and respected member of my Inquisiton, and one of my dearest friends. As such, I learned firsthand of his duplicitous nature, and I know for a fact that every word he speaks is crafted to bend others to serve his means. _

_For what he may have neglected to share is that Elvhenan fell by his hand. It was he who raised the veil, he who caused our people to age, and he who weakened our culture so much so that Tevinter was able to invade and raze our cities to the ground. Naturally, he seeks to rectify this mistake, but what he wishes can only come to pass if all of us are eliminated._

_He does not consider himself to be one of our people. He thinks himself better and higher than us ‘shadows’ of what he considers a great civilization. He sees the enslaved as weak, and the Dalish foolish and barbarian. And he thinks this not only of our own people, but of Shem, Qunari, and Dwarven peoples as well. He entertains this line of thought because it erases any guilt he might have felt about destroying us, for ending what he sees as our miserable existence upon the world that he believes belongs to the Elvhenan alone._

_I have had the misfortune of dealing with more than one of the Elvhenan, and I know that they all share this opinion. They see our lives as that of a lame halla, limping about in such pain that it would be a mercy to kill it. How dare they discount our survival so easily? How dare they declare us beyond hope, and seek to destroy us to bring back a world in which they have built up to be much greater by dint of nostalgia? These “shadows” they see are not the people I know. I see a people clinging to their identity, refusing to be cowed despite lashing, despite the fact that the Shem have tried to destroy us at every moment possible._

_Would it not be better for us to raise up our own society to rival that of Orzammar, Para Vollen, and Orlais, Ferelden, and Tevinter? Would it not be better to band together as a force to be reckoned with, to prove to the other races that we will no longer be mistreated? Instead, Fen’Harel wishes to take that very chance from our grasp and destroy us all._

_I was once First to the Keeper of clan Lavellan. It was always my dream to serve my people, to allow us to become great again on our own merit. I see the glory that we could be, and I would do anything to bring it to pass. And I will not allow this world to be destroyed before that can be accomplished._

_I was once misled by Fen’Harel. I allowed him to manipulate me and change me to the point when I could no longer return to my clan and my home. I let him take the very Vallaslin from my face- the marks which held such meaning for me and my people. I trusted him. Do not make the same mistake as I._

_Dareth Shiral, my bretheren._

**_Inquisitor Lavellan_ **


	2. I Was A Blindfold

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Here we go again. The Inquisition plans for this next threat.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter's song is Blindness by Metric  
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=spqgpkobEh4

Atlas Trevelyan stood before the copy of the missive, pinned to the outer walls of Skyhold’s tavern. He knew it by heart, having helped the Inquisitor to pen the first several copies as she had not yet been used to wielding the prosthetic Dagna built for her. As the first time he had read it, her sheer gall impressed him. Many would be intimidated by the fact that they were up against a _literal god_ , here she was, sending letters out across Thedas, calling him out on his flaws publically to every elf. Even if Solas wanted to ignore it, it had to be a huge hit to his pride. It must make her a target to Fen’Harel’s agents, even more so than before. He shook his head. Things like this- these were the reasons why he was not the Inquisitor. Being her body guard was bad enough, what with how many threats seemed to appear and swarm her like deepstalkers. It was lucky that he was not the only one looking out for her health and safety or she might be doomed.

“Mister Trevelyan.”

Atlas jumped nearly jumped out of his skin as he heard Cassanda come up behind him. The woman was never without at least one layer of armor, so he should have heard her approach. Yet he was so distracted lately with the thought of impending war and ancient gods that his mind tended to wander when it shouldn’t.

Some body guard of the Inquisitor _he_ was.

“The Inquisitor requires our presence in the war room. Nobody knew where you were,” she said.

Atlas winced.

“Apologies, Seeker Pentaghast. I neglected my duties for a moment, and I deeply regret it.”

Cassandra scoffed loudly and turned on her heel. Atlas jogged a few steps to keep up and matched her pace, assuming that she meant for him to follow. They walked in silence for a while before Cassandra spoke up again.

“You’d think after all we have been through, you would see to address me by my own name.”

“Says the woman who just called me ‘Mister Trevelyan.’”

A smile pulled on her lips. She was always so beautiful when she smiled, though it took away none of her strength. She was a force of nature, immovable as a mountain though she could be as sweet as a mountain spring. As always, his breath caught in his throat.

“True enough. Old habits die hard.”

Atlas smiled in return, and they fell back into silence. Unfortunately, he usually had no idea what to say to the woman. Although he wished to get to know her better, his tongue twisted up in his mouth and nothing that came to mind sounded intelligent enough to say aloud. It was entirely possible that the seeker was under the impression that he disliked her, and if so there was no way he could counteract it without making a bigger fool of himself.

Finally, the pair reached the war room, and he was finally relieved of the pressure to say something.

Cullen and Divine Victoria were already in the room, along with Inquisitor Lavellan. The Inquisitor looked up as they entered, and smiled at Cassandra. A second later, however, she leveled him with a completely unimpressed stare. Sometimes it seemed as though she could practically read his thoughts, seeing through him entirely. He’d never told anyone that he was mildly in love with Cassandra, but she was always more aware of such things. Body language, he figured. But when she turned that silvery gaze upon him, he couldn’t help but feel as though she were peering into his very soul.

The Inquisitor stood at the center of the room, looking down at the map with a pensive look upon her face. Atlas could tell that she wore the prosthetic, but she covered it with a glove. Even so, one could tell by the unnatural stillness of the hand that it was not real. She held it as if it were made of unwieldy stone, not Dagna’s complicated mechanics. Perhaps Dagna had still not mastered metalwork enough to grant it natural movement.

“Inquisitor,” Cullen said. “Now that we’re all gathered I’d like to start out with-”

The Inquisitor held out her right hand, gesturing for silence. Cullen stopped speaking at once. Atlas and Cullen shared confused looks as silence took over the rom for several heartbeats. Then, as if melting out of shadow itself, an elf sprung at The Inquisitor with a knife, screaming out a war cry. Before the assassin could get very close however, a taller red-haired elf appeared by apparently the same means, and apprehended the interloper. The tall elf twisted the assassin’s arms behind her back, causing her to yell out painfully. The knife cluttered to the ground.

“Look at that, Thyra!” The red-haired elf grinned. “She almost thought she had you, did you see her face?”

Thyra Lavellan looked up at the ceiling, no doubt counting to ten in her head.

“Lhavi, the _point_ of being my body guard is to keep assassins from getting into Skyhold in the first place. _Not_ toying with them as a cat would a mouse.”

Her rebuff couldn’t shake Lhavi’s grin as he pulled the assassin closer.

“Did you see her knife though? It’s absolute shite, I wouldn’t be surprised if it couldn’t cut through butter. She’s not exactly one of Leliana’s.” He shot a wink at Divine Victoria, who rolled her eyes.

“It seems my abilities as spymaster were indispensable. I should have looked harder for a replacement,” the Divine said.

“No, the fault is mine. I should have set out more guards,” said Cullen.

“In that case,” Cassandra said, “We should have-”

“ _Enough_!” The Inquisitor’s tone was harsh. “I’ll not have us bickering in front of our _esteemed guest._ ”

The Inquisitor turned her gaze of steel to the assassin, and the poor girl paled as if she’d only just realized what she was dealing with. Not just anyone casually stumbled into the fade and out again (twice), or sealed a massive hole in the sky (twice), or looked into the eyes of a god and veritably told them to fuck off ( _twice!)._ Atlas had been at her side for most of the journey, and even he could not fathom the strength of character it took to survive all of that. He’d strangled dragons with her, cut down giants, fended off demons that defied comprehension, and yet he was still shocked by the notion that _he_ was supposed to protect _her._

Perhaps Lhavi was right to be so callous with assassins. The fact that any fool with a pigsticker thought that they could harm the Inquisitor was laughable.

“Lhavi, pass her on to the guards. We have much to discuss and I would rather not have you missing.”

The taller elf gave her a mock salute with one hand, and with the other kept a grip on the assassin’s wrists as guards were called to shackle her and take her away. The would-be-assassin appeared cowed now that her plan to kill the Inquisitor was foiled, and when the door shut behind them, Thyra Lavellan shook her head.

“That was no agent of Fen’Harel’s. Our friend is much more intelligent and discreet than that.”

“And yet she managed to make it into our walls,” Divine Victoria said, shifting on her feet where she stood. “How we have managed to fall so hard is beyond me.”

“I believe that has less to do with a fault in our defenses, and more to do with the fact that _someone_ was bored.” The Inquisitor glared at Lhavi, who laughed.

“Apologies, the look on her face was just too good to pass up! She _actually thought_ she could get into Skyhold on her own. As if we didn’t have guards enough, who are very talented and well trained by the way.” With this, Lhavi winked at Commander Cullen, who flushed slightly.

Before the Commander could stumble out a response, The Inquisitor kicked Lhavi in the shin.

“Stop being ridiculous. We’re here to discuss plans, not… whatever it is you’re doing.”

She chose this moment to glare at Atlas, who blushed. So she definitely knew how he felt about Cassandra. Wonderful.

“Leliana,” The Inquisitor turned to address the Divine. “Do not trouble yourself about your former role as spymaster. You have a hard enough time unifying the Chantry. I hope that your acceptance of my people will gain the support of Andrastian city elves, however. It could be a boon for us, when so many of them had never even considered the Elvhen gods of old. There is also the matter of deciding upon your Left Hand.”

“I would welcome you in that position, Inquisitor. However, I understand your reluctance to take that role.”

Inquisitor Lavellan inclined her head.

“I have never believed in the Maker. It would be wrong. Besides, many of the people already consider me to be practically shemlen already. It would only hurt us to give them one more reason to think so.”

Cassandra snorted.

“I cannot believe that after all you have been through, you still refuse to believe in the Maker’s providence.”

The Inquisitor just rolled her eyes and waved her hand, this being a common argument they’d been through time and time again. Quietly, Atlas agreed with Cassandra, but he could also understand why the Inquisitor would not hear of it. He figured that Cassandra understood as well, but couldn’t help but press the point every now and then.

“Cullen,” The Inquisitor continued, “I’ve sent messages to every Dalish clan I can think of. With any luck, a few of them will send us some of their hunters. I’ll need them trained up properly for battle.”

“Of course, Inquisitor.”

Inquisitor Lavellan looked from Cassandra to Leliana and back again.

“I assume you two will largely be distracted enough with the unification of the Chantry. So, I have made contingency plans.”

“What contingency plans?!” Several voices spoke at once, Atlas’ among them. The Inquisitor shook her head.

“I’ll only tell you when I’m certain it will work. Just know that I’m planning. I haven’t given up on the Inquisition yet, nor Thedas itself.”

 

Later that day, Atlas was in the courtyard when Clan Levallan entered Skyhold. It was clear that Thyra Lavellan had been awaiting their arrival, for she rushed down the stairs so quickly that if Atlas hadn’t known better, he’d have assumed she flew. The Keeper in front with hair as tightly bound as Thyra’s once was, gathered the Inquisitor tightly into her chest. When the hug released, the Keeper put her hands on Thyra’s cheeks and studied her.

“Oh, da’len. What have you done to your face?”

When Atlas realized that the shine on her cheeks was the shimmer of tears, he quickly looked away, and made himself busy elsewhere.


End file.
